Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: N/A | 268 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT A Sticky Wicket
By Cindy McLennan | Season 2 | Episode 10 | Aired on 2013.01.06
So, Archie's Office. Regina comes in. Pongo growls and barks. My husband says, "That's not Regina. It's Cora, in disguise." He makes me put that in this recap. And even though he abandoned me all week with three kids and a dog, while he went on a business trip to Texas, I follow through, because his guilt tastes better than chocolate. Anyhow, our Buffy doesn't freak out at Pongo, and the TV lives another day. Archie reminds Pongo that he knows Regina, then grabs her file from this cabinet. Before he knows what has hit him, Cora-posing-as-Regina (Corgina) throttles Archie with her right hand and lefts him by his neck, into the air. Pongo barks some more. Buffy doesn't. Regina freezes Pongo and continues to grab at Archie's throat. The two are enveloped by her magical purple haze. We cut to Corgina exiting the building and walking down the Storybrooke thoroughfare. After she turns down an alley, purple haze rises from the ground and surrounds her, until she is once again wearing her Cora meat-suit and gown. Thank goodness she's ditched that lame-ass parasol. Who carries those things at night? Commercial.
Morning. Granny's. While Henry appears to be eating a breakfast of something breakfast-y, like waffles, Emma breaking her fast with french fries and catsup. Not the best role model where the most important meal of the day is concerned -- Emma is my kind of mother. Henry wants to know what it was like "Over there." He listens intently as Emma says there were ogres, the dead rising, and people trying to kill her. When it's time to head off for school, Henry points out that he's old enough to walk to the bus alone. Emma doesn't care; she's walking with him. "David let me," doesn't work on her. In fact, not even, "You used to let me," doesn't work on her. When Henry tries that one, Emma says, "Well I am not me. I am walking you, because that's what mother's do, and I'm doing it."
Outside the diner, Pongo charges at them, barking his head off. Buffy still doesn't react. Thank you, dog. Red rushes out and declares something is wrong. Emma recognizes this as a wolf-thing and decides that at eleven (so he's aged a year, since the pilot episode) Henry is old enough to walk to the bus stop. But instead of hugging him, she gives him a shove. It's not an abusive shove. It's just a nice bit of characterization to point out how far Emma has to go, in learning to be a mom.